[travel] Things not to like about Dubai:
- Many of the engineering marvels I mentioned in the last post are being built with the modern equivalent of slave labor. Construction workers are often kept sequestered in camps, with limited mobility. Their passports are often confiscated, and it's a frequent practice to only pay them once every 3-6 months.
- Carpooling is illegal, and carries substantial fines. Carpooling is considered competition for the taxi system, which is run by the government. Thus, you can't pick up a coworker on the way to work, even if you do so for free. I should point out that there's horrible traffic there... like worse than LA. There are also limited piblic transit options. A subway system is being built, but apparently the fares will be jacked up high so as to (you guessed it) not compete with the government-run taxi system. Read more here: http://www.arabnews.com/?article=100707
- Singapore and Dubai make for an interesting contrast. They are both small, rich, highly developed one-party city states with strict laws and low crime. However, Singapore spends a lot of money investing in education and public infrastructure and encourages expatriates to become citizens. In contrast, Dubai seems to treat its noncitizens, which make up 90% of the population, as disposable employees. It's only possible to become a citizen of Dubai if your father is a citizen. There are almost no social services... there are a small number of expensive private schools of mediocre quality, so foreigners are often reluctant to move their families here. Most of the expatriates are thus men who are either single or separated from their families. There are sections of the city that feel like a giant sausage fest. Ethnically, 10% of the population is Emirati citizens, 40% is Indian, and the remainder are mostly a mix of Arab, European, and American expatriates. Many of the expatriate residents I met are depressed... due to the government's social policies, they can never feel like Dubai is their home. Many of them rarely get to see their families.
- Government-legislated supply of women: Because of how Dubai marriage laws work, Emirati men can marry foreign women, but it's almost impossible for foreign men (even Muslims from other gulf states) to marry Emirati women. Women who do manage to marry foreign men lose their citizenship, along with all its benefits. This has the effect of creating a large pool of women with very limited marriage options. I initially though that this would mean that Emirati women would often haave to accept marriage proposals from undesirable Emirati men since their options are so limited. Good for the men, bad for the women. However, I learned that marriages almost always require the bride's parents' approval, and it's customary for the husband to pay the bride's family a very large dowry (think of it as bail). Since the bride's parents don't want the bride to marry “down”, the dowry is often such that most young men can't really afford to pay it. Dating in the western sense is frowned upon. Thus, the net result is a large number of local women who end up unmarried, and huge amount of prostitution.
- THEY BLOCK FLICKR! So I really should be more upset by their treatment of women and migrant workers, but blocking entire sections of the internet gets me really riled up. I had the amusing experience of having a 50-year-old Muslim woman in a nontechnical position tell me “just use a proxy server”.
- As the recession hits them hard, Dubai is starting to swing back more in the traditional direction. Some new proposed laws prohibit kissing, holding hands, and even hugging between couples in public. Amusingly, men will often hold hands and hug... it's part of traditional Arab culture. I had the amusing thought that gay men probably get a kick out of being able to engage in PDAs while everyone else thinks it's just manly hand-holding, but I'm guessing that the gays there keep it very underground. Read more here: http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=960921
- Carpooling is illegal, and carries substantial fines. Carpooling is considered competition for the taxi system, which is run by the government. Thus, you can't pick up a coworker on the way to work, even if you do so for free. I should point out that there's horrible traffic there... like worse than LA. There are also limited piblic transit options. A subway system is being built, but apparently the fares will be jacked up high so as to (you guessed it) not compete with the government-run taxi system. Read more here: http://www.arabnews.com/?article=100707
- Singapore and Dubai make for an interesting contrast. They are both small, rich, highly developed one-party city states with strict laws and low crime. However, Singapore spends a lot of money investing in education and public infrastructure and encourages expatriates to become citizens. In contrast, Dubai seems to treat its noncitizens, which make up 90% of the population, as disposable employees. It's only possible to become a citizen of Dubai if your father is a citizen. There are almost no social services... there are a small number of expensive private schools of mediocre quality, so foreigners are often reluctant to move their families here. Most of the expatriates are thus men who are either single or separated from their families. There are sections of the city that feel like a giant sausage fest. Ethnically, 10% of the population is Emirati citizens, 40% is Indian, and the remainder are mostly a mix of Arab, European, and American expatriates. Many of the expatriate residents I met are depressed... due to the government's social policies, they can never feel like Dubai is their home. Many of them rarely get to see their families.
- Government-legislated supply of women: Because of how Dubai marriage laws work, Emirati men can marry foreign women, but it's almost impossible for foreign men (even Muslims from other gulf states) to marry Emirati women. Women who do manage to marry foreign men lose their citizenship, along with all its benefits. This has the effect of creating a large pool of women with very limited marriage options. I initially though that this would mean that Emirati women would often haave to accept marriage proposals from undesirable Emirati men since their options are so limited. Good for the men, bad for the women. However, I learned that marriages almost always require the bride's parents' approval, and it's customary for the husband to pay the bride's family a very large dowry (think of it as bail). Since the bride's parents don't want the bride to marry “down”, the dowry is often such that most young men can't really afford to pay it. Dating in the western sense is frowned upon. Thus, the net result is a large number of local women who end up unmarried, and huge amount of prostitution.
- THEY BLOCK FLICKR! So I really should be more upset by their treatment of women and migrant workers, but blocking entire sections of the internet gets me really riled up. I had the amusing experience of having a 50-year-old Muslim woman in a nontechnical position tell me “just use a proxy server”.
- As the recession hits them hard, Dubai is starting to swing back more in the traditional direction. Some new proposed laws prohibit kissing, holding hands, and even hugging between couples in public. Amusingly, men will often hold hands and hug... it's part of traditional Arab culture. I had the amusing thought that gay men probably get a kick out of being able to engage in PDAs while everyone else thinks it's just manly hand-holding, but I'm guessing that the gays there keep it very underground. Read more here: http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=960921